Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Watchmen Review

I was one of the lucky few to catch a early screening of the highly anticipated Watchmen movie arriving in theaters on March 6, 2009. I was not familiar at all with the graphic novel or the characters until I saw a trailer for it during The Dark Knight (superb movie).

It was really until my brother told me to read the graphic novel that I decided to give it a glance, expecting it to be like spider-man or the other 30 super hero comics turned into movies. Of course I was not expecting much and if you don't want to know anything about the movie or novel. Stop reading NOW!

Now onto the review. Watchmen is set in an alternate 1985 reality in which super heroes walk among us. Due to the fact that Dr. Manhattan (a man endowed with god like powers) ended Vietnam in a few days means Richard Nixon is still in office. However the threat of nuclear annihilation from the Russians is still quite real.

Ill cut to the chase if you like novel then you should enjoy the movie. Its really as good as its going to get and its as faithful as it can be. What made the story stand out for me was the strong theme of morality that was played in the novel. For instance Rorschach (a fan favorite) is deemed a psychopath by everyone around him, yet in the end he is the only one who makes the right choice.

It is a story about heroes and it raises the question what is good and what is evil. If the world could be saved with a lie would be it ok? If you could kill millions to save billions would it be morally sound? It is a story about those who think of themselves as the heroes yet in turn, turn out to be the problem themselves. A theme I have seen personally in my life. Those who love the world too much or love some one too strong can end up hurting what it is they love. Those who do evil often think of themselves as the hero inflicting some kind of justice on someone or something.

Dr. Manhattan is a being who can do anything yet his problem is he cares too little and Rorschach cares to much. This for me was the strongest point in the novel and I am glad they have it in the movie. I don't know how people who have not read the novel will react when they see the movie but they should at least enjoy the amazing visuals. It is not nearly as bad as some critics are panning it out to be.